Obama: Mothers’ dream, children’s icon

By Doreen Allotey
July 10-11, 2009, will go down in Ghanaian history as memorable when Ghana hosts the 44th President of the United States of America. The visit of Barack Hussein Obama, to our relatively tiny country located on the west coast of Africa will last for only a scant 48 hours but the excitement and expectations it has generated are very high.
We can see such high fever in the preparation to receive our visitor and this is appropriately termed “Obamamania.” This simply shows the measure of the man, the first black person to be elected President of the United States of America, the most powerful nation in the world.
It is a great pity that apart from what we see of him on the television screen, many Ghanaians will not have the opportunity to meet him face to face, wave at him or have the fortune of shaking hands with him. The visit will be restricted to only Accra and Cape Coast and he is to commute between the two cities by helicopter. Not many residents of even Accra will line up the ceremonial routes to cheer him. Cape Coasters may be luckier if the rain-saturated clouds permit it. We urge them to give it all to “Uncle Obama” to their fullest capacity for their known hospitality and humour.
The full impact of the visit will not be felt only during the few hours that he will spend with us. Rather, the goodwill and the recognition he brings to the people of this country — and not some other country — on his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa will give Ghana such an image boost that will last long to come.
We should not reduce this visit to a flying holiday, we should remind ourselves that the US President is expected to make an important policy pronouncement affecting the whole of Africa. It is the initiatives and programmes contained in this statement that must produce the greatest impact of the visit. Mothers and children of this continent who regard Obama as “blood of our blood, flesh of our flesh” are hopeful that it will all be good news.
Before Obama makes the anticipated speech, let us do some thinking aloud: What are the expectations of Ghanaians for the visit of this man who has chosen Ghana first ? America has done great economic things for this country in terms of aid for infrastructural development. Roads, agricultural research, training and extension services; healthcare and education, have been undertaken with US aid. Mothers who run most of our informal economy as market women appreciate good roads. As farmers, women are ever grateful for good crop yields made possible by donor money. Mothers appreciate use of the malarial fund that provides mosquito nets and the chemicals to spray stagnant waters so that the scourge of malaria is minimised. Our children also benefit from donations of materials and buildings for our schools.
Our needs are endless and as government alone cannot satisfy them all, donor assistance will always be solicited. There is a saying that, “if you want to talk to God, you must talk into the air.” It is hoped that the Obama visit will bring in its wake initiatives to strengthen US assistance already on the ground and to initiate new ones. If our august visitors have the opportunity to visit any of our hospitals and schools, they will see some of the challenges facing this country.
Quite apart from donor assistance, the Ghanaian economy requires considerable American capital to develop our oil fields and assist in the development of a promising petrochemical industry to provide jobs, uplift the living standards of our people, and generate good returns for the investors. That we are a peace-loving nation is attested to by many nations, including the US. To a very large extent, Ghana is a safer investment proposition than most of the turbulent oil-producing countries where democratic governance is poor.
Ghanaians want to have the opportunity to go to schools in America and also pursue business interests there. But recent visa restrictions by the US Government have made this dream unattainable. It is pathetic to see the intimidating queues that form daily at the gates of the visa section of the US Embassy. Sometimes as early as 4 a.m.! The chances are that not even one per cent of the applicants are granted the travel documents. America is an open society, and in this era of globalisation severe travel restrictions to that country should be a thing of the past. Ghanaians currently living in the US pose no security risks. With that record, Ghanaians should not be encountering travel difficulties to the US. This is a plea from mothers and children to the US President.
To any mother, Barack Obama is a dream son; to any child, a perfect icon and across all demographic groups of the world, a hero and a colossus as his stature spans the whole globe. A mother whose womb is gifted with such a child has indeed been pre-ordained. She is special and should rightly be envied by other women of more endowed circumstances. All the mother’s toils of mothering and the devotion of the grandparents who assisted in bringing this special child up have been amply rewarded. They did not pamper and render him a spoilt child, but they instilled in him the spirit of hard work, dedication and devotion to his nation.
Long after Obama is gone from our shores, the name will remain in many households where Ghanaian mothers, always looking for an icon (because there is always something in a great name), will surely have named some of their male babies after him. I have even seen a hotel in Legon called Obama Hotel! Long after the commemoration cloths and the other memorabilia have faded, the name will still ring. Those who bear the Obama name will know the full life history of the man who was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His story will encourage them to attempt heights attained by their icon.
His wife Michelle is to be enstooled a queen at Cape Coast. This is an investiture with profound significance in the Ghanaian culture and it is hoped that traditionalists will educate her on this ceremony. What can be said here is that she will be inducted into a clan with a totem with a rich cultural meaning. The queen is required to advise the chief on weighty traditional and developmental issues. No clan wants an absentee queen. The implications for Michelle to visit her people very regularly cannot be over-emphasised. “Come back soon” is the clarion call. With her induction, the children, Melissa and Natasha get inducted automatically as princesses. They will also have the responsibility of being role models and future leaders as well.
Ghanaian mothers and children are proud of the Obama family.